The Eighth Fantasy: Blue Magic
by Joana Seta
Summary: [On hiatus] None of the fated children were ordinary. Seifer and Quistis less so than any of the others.
1. Part One: Chap. 01 - Diving Into the Poo...

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters. They are all property of Squaresoft. I'm using them for entertainment purpose ONLY, so DON'T SUE.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** 'The Eighth Fantasy' is a fanfiction divided in three books, this being the first and shortest one (sorta as an introduction to the other two). It takes place several years before the Ultimecia ordeal, (during Squall and the other's 'childhood good days') and it focuses on Quistis and Seifer's first meeting and farewell. I can't bring myself to tell much more (unless you ask me too! ^_^) so I won't spoil some surprises in the near future. Talking about the future! Beware of SPOILERS (obviously), ORIGINAL CHARACTERS (not really here, but in the next books…), BAD ENGLISH (in both bad language and bad grammar – hey! Nobody's perfect!!!), a NON-RINOA Universe (if you don't like a fic without her, you better leave. Rinoa won't be mentioned in the WHOLE fic!), a SLIGHT DIFFERENCE IN THE PLOT (thanks to my non-Rinoa Universe! ^_^) and a TOTALLY INSANE MIND (that's me!!! ^_______^)!!!! Beside that… uh… there must be a lot of things yet to beware, but… hey! I don't have all day! So please, Read, Enjoy and Review!

THE EIGHTH FANTASY BOOK 1: BLUE MAGIC PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS CHAPTER ONE: DIVING INTO THE POOLS OF YOUR EYES 

_Have you ever looked at something without really seeing it?_

Ever cast your eyes on something and failed to see what lay underneath it's cool exterior? Ever wondered what was beneath the masked surface and never bordered to search more than what was presented to you?

_Have you ever spent endless times trying to grasp something beyond your reach and fail to notice what surrounds you? _

_Ever been oblivious to the beauty which exists in very tiny detail… every powerful magical flame, every metal-melting fire, every swaying petal in the wind, every mesmerising spell of the sea, every falling teardrop onto the fertile soil of the earth, every whisper of the wood…?   _

_Have you ever felt the guilt of such failure eating your soul so intensely that you just abandon yourself into the deepest grief? The inner message of each little thing slipping between your clumsy little fingers like the sands of time that flow mercilessly quick… not waiting for anyone._

_Have you ever looked at something without really seeing it?_

_Ever passed by the hidden coves of happiness and missed the entrances out of fear? Ever refused to reach out for someone because rejection and hurt frightened you?_

_Have you ever closed your heart to your friends, thus scarring your fortune away? _

_Ever dismissed such simple bitter-sweet knowledge as to why someone smiles or cries? Ever blown away your chances of glimpsing into someone's heart and healing the wounds within?_

_Have you ever looked at something without really seeing it?_

_Ever incapable of really taking the time to see all that is around you? Ever really seen what surrounds you…? _

_Have you ever strolled over the land without acknowledging what was before you?_

_Ever placed your hands before your eyes because you never searched further? Ever run miles without leaving stage one?_

_The hate, the love, the pain, the joy, the hurt, the healing, the sadness, the happiness, the innocence, the guilt, the fear, the courage, the mistrust, the trust, the confidence, the uncertainty, the terror, the bravery, the dishonour, the honour, the imprisonment, the freedom, the enmity, the rivalry, the friendship… _

_…Have you ever misunderstood the beauty of it all?_

_Have you ever looked at something without really seeing it?_

_Ever noticed, when the sands flow no more for us, when the darkness embraces us and we cease to exist… have you ever noticed … the failure of realising a life of blinding guidance through existence…_

_…only you realise too late…_

_Have you ever grieved over the failure of not seeing?_

The five years old boy could barely feel his short hair clinging to the sides of his face and over his left eye, his small – yet strong – body fighting bravely against the currents that were pulling him down and struggling to keep his head out of the water as each restless wave occasionally swept over him.

For many times now had he tempted himself to cast away those defiant strands away his stormy blue eyes, but for many more had his fear to loosen his grip on that wasteful wooden board shuddered it off.

Yes, he thought bitterly, a tiny rectangular wooden wreck, eaten away by termites through the years, had blissfully cracked under his childish hard punch and enabled him to survive that hateful catastrophe. A tiny parcel of a tree trunk, doomed to fire wood, served now as his only support in the exhausting task of remaining at the stormy grey surface of the ocean.

The little boy looked at the amethyst-grey sky in fear, as a lighting cracked just above his wet little head. He stared at it in silence, the waves gently smoothening under the light's freighting brilliance.

He feared the lightning.

Not the deathly electricity – that could bring his frail body to a merciless last breath countless times with just one blow – not the unpredictableness of it's manifestations – no, he seldom enjoyed that –, neither did he feared it's raging fury, – since it also cursed through his veins – …No……… What this little boy feared was its predicament…

And now the boy wondered how could have he underestimated the power of those blue depths… How hadn't he expected this from the Sea…? The same liquid vastness along which he had raced through the last three years of his life, the same rippled mirror of Heaven, the same pool where he searched for food from dawn to evening, the same vessel that brought bread, garments and commerce to the little town of Ayaa Mar…?

His thoughts were cut by the realisation that years spent with seafolk were indeed useful to predict weather. Immediately, the boy wished he hadn't know that much… that he had been wrong...

*SCKNIT* He heard the skies hiss as he took the chance to firm his grip around the wooden wreck and prepare himself for the worse.

Keeping a low profile and wishing he wasn't so big for his age, the boy shuddered inconsolably and squeezed himself against the board, his numb flesh now immune to the freezing temperatures.

Finally, and after seconds that lasted for an eternity, the skies cracked anew in a terrible holler of gigantic deafening thunders, the wind rising out of nowhere in a twirling typhoon, causing the waters to agitate into new high wavy formations.

Horror struck, the young boy's beautiful eyes widened in shock as an imposing mass of water threatened to fall over him. The only thought that crossed his mind before the raging wave crashed against his limp body was "_Those guys who died in the shipwreck were Hyne damned lucky!"_.

_"NO!!!!! STOP! Please…. No!!! Not him!!! STOP!!!"_

Feeling the heavily push of the cursing water against his skin like steel embedded on a Firaga spell, the boy refused to give in to it's strength, gripping desperately on the board and holding his breath fiercely. He wouldn't die. He _couldn't _die. Not after all the loneliness, not after all the pain. 

No.

There must more in life for him. 

His life couldn't be the miserable five years he counted. 

There must be more. Much more. 

And he was going to strive for it. Strive for it with all his might.

He wouldn't give up. 

_"Ondinas! No!!! Spare him!!! ONDINAS!!!!"_

Driven to the surface by the soft volume of the wood and by the frantic kicking of his legs on the salty liquid, the small boy took a mouthful breath of sea-sickening air before being dragged again by the wave's massive blow. But, this time, the currents refuse to let him reach the surface again.

_"Ondinas, spare him!! STOP!!! Sisters… please…"_

The boy kicked the currents with all the energy he still possessed, fighting his destiny with an iron will as he slipped deeper into the ocean.

_"…I beg of you… spare him… let him come to me…"_

Bubbles of precious air fluttered out of his purple lips as he felt himself choking. Breathless. 

His grip on the board weakened, thus sending it floating to the surface and leaving him alone and helpless…

_"…he's mine…"_

Slowly, all the strength left him, his legs ceasing their useless blows as he dived further down into the blue depths. 

_"…please…"_

Some say that when someone reaches it's dying moment, that he or she sees their lives rushing before their eyes before fleeing away forever… leaving only darkness and emptiness behind…

_"…let him…"_

But, as he sunk into the Abyss of Forgetfulness, the boy saw nothing of that.

_"…come …"_

His mind merely gripped upon the vision of the most beautiful sapphire blue eyes he had ever seen.

_"…to me…"_

**Author's Note:** Like it? Hate it? What to attempt a homicide? Please let me know! Flames and reviews are ALL WELCOME!!! ^_________________________^


	2. Part One: Chap. 02 - A Sister's Cry

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters. They are all property of Squaresoft. I'm using them for entertainment purpose ONLY, so DON'T SUE.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Here's the second part! Hope someone still cares!!! ^_^ Enjoy yourself!!!

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS 

**CHAPTER TWO: A SISTER'S CRY**

Like weeds caught in the middle of an underwater current, her dishevelled pale and almost colourless hair waved gently in nothingness, loose strands of her blurry garments moving in the same wave-like motions, giving her delicate semi-transparent frame an even more ethereal appearance.          

"Cold………………… He is so cold."

_Her fading pale hands extended themselves toward the small boy that rebelled himself against the mighty fury of the storm as she, floating in that dark-blue abyss, seemed oblivious of the turmoil surrounding her._

_But, she could feel it. The cold, the power, the fear… it was all coming from this little boy, that once again reached the surface and yet anew was pushed by the waves._

_And there he was, kicking yet again, at the stubborn currents, fighting to save himself… fighting to survive…_

_Her eyes, of an intense turquoise blue, shone with emotions beyond her control or reach, though her beautiful features stayed emotionless. _

_As she approached his twisting body, she began to curl her arms around the boy's neck, smoothly nestling her spirit-like form against his body._

_In an invisible embrace, she reached for him, wishing, in a silent prayer, that she was there to warm his body… to free him from that deathly trap…_

_…But, there was nothing she could do… or was it?_

The little girl shivered, feeling the cold that his skin refused to acknowledge, the iciness of it's temperature overwhelming her with the same numbness that engulfed his body. 

She shifted, restless, in her sleep, murmuring incoherent words to any of those who lived out of the reach of the Heavenly Ones' Song, her woollen covers neatly folded at her bare feet, a light cotton sheet the only garment between the night's air and her short night gown.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Instinctively, she griped her woollen covers and pushed them briskly over her slim frame, curling into a fetal position and dragging the thick materials with her, leaving, over her white mattress, nothing more than a trembling ball of flesh and fabric. 

And still the coldness that he felt refused to leave her senses; even though she was now covered with her winter rugs - situation which for itself spoke of the inefficiency of her unusual resistance to freezing temperatures in soothing their deathly uncomfortableness.

 Slowly, she moved herself away from the small boy, watching in horror and pity as the boy gradually lost his strength, the water claiming his life for it's own, the fire slowly leaving his eyes……………

"No, I won't allow it!"

Praying silently, the girl unconsciously released the ends of her warm covers – their warmth, she knew, of no use to her, since she could not feel it –, so as to place her pale delicate hands over the source of her quaking heartbeats. 

_Turning her back to the desperate boy, she screamed to no one seen to human eyes._

_"Ondinas!!"_ _She called._ _"Ondinas, souls of the ocean listen to my prayer. Please, don't." _

_Silence filled the depths she had addressed, but, still, she continued. "Just like the Sea's spirit is your binding the boy is mine's. Let him. Let him come to me. Sisters, please I beg of you… Let him come to me…"_

_Turning around in a frantic movement, her ethereal form cast her horror-struck blue eyes – still the only feature of her face holding any emotion – to the unmoving blonde boy floating endlessly in the dark abyss… _

_She felt him choking._

Tears spilled from her closed eyelids and rolled down her soft slightly flustered cheeks for the first time in the girl's life.

If Chance had permitted her to awake at the time, she would find herself surprisingly crying over no logical reason, an unknown feeling of void and irremediable loss overwhelming her unlike any she had ever felt – not even when her mother departed from this Realm.

In a desperate movement, the small child traced a swirling shaped symbol between her brows, perspiration and humid traces of tears framing her beautiful childish features, despite the cold that assaulted each and every one of her physical senses. 

Urgently turning her attention to the beings she had summoned, she found, in a mist of Hope and fearful pain of loss, the gradually fading into view linings of brilliant water shaped female spirits, spirits which - she knew - had watched evenly the drama swaying before their misty eyes. 

_::Do you know what you are asking, child?:: The spirits inquired, their frozen lips unmoving, their faces - like the ones of a blue-skinned china doll - held absolute serenity, their bodies harmoniously framed, their sinuous curves adding to the movements of their waving marine-blue hair. _

_"Please! He's mine! I claim for his soul, sisterly ones! You know we share a bidding…. please… Ondinas, sisters… He has already claimed for my own spirit so many times in the past…"_

_::You do acknowledge you have a bidding to us, also, don't you child?::_

_"I am well aware of that…"_

_::Do you also know he is a fiery spirit, and thus contradictory to us?::_

_"Ondinas, his soul is endangered, by the Motherly spirit, you should know--"_

_::Shiri, our child, we do know…"_

Her lips moved gently in unspoken words of promise, the storm, as if calmed by her silent sayings and growing state of relaxation, faded into nothing more than purplish clouds scattered across the now palling indigo skies, leaving still, in the direction of the deserted Continent, the strong pour of rain, the urgent currents and the gentle cracking of electricity… now, not crashing over the claiming of one soul… but over the joy of a mutually won battle and the beginning of a new Era.

**Author's Notes:** Okie… so… what do you think? Please, PLEASE, _PLEASE_, **_PLEASE_** let me know!! Reviews take me out of my writer blocks and I'm having one right now! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! ^______^


	3. Part One: Chap. 03 - A River's Lullaby

**DISCLAIMER:** How many times do I have to tell you that I do not own these characters!???! They're Square's!!!! And the song's not mine, either!!!! It's from Dreamworks' 'The Prince of Egypt'!!!!! So, DON'T SUE!!!!!!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**ARGH!!! I must have read this chapter at least twenty-four times and I'm still not happy with it!!!! It's just so difficult to keep good writing standards!!!! ;P Oh well, I tried my best… don't be two hard! (Yeah, I know I took zillions to update, sorry!!!! ^0^) Oh! And thanks for all the reviews and support!!!! I LUV YA!!!! ^_^  

**DEDICATION:** This chapter is specially dedicated to my buddy Sagara!!! She's the best!!! ^_^

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS CHAPTER THREE: A RIVER'S LULLABY 

Softly and soundlessly as the flapping of a butterfly's wings, small eyelids fluttered open, revealing, to the peaceful dimness of the room, intense pools of sea-blue.

Quietly, the five-years-old child blinked several times, her beautiful eyes peeking lazily through heavy half-open eyelids, her brain searching to dismiss the blur that slumberness had caused to her sharp feline-like senses by gradually focusing her vision and her thoughts.

Easing her head from her pillow slightly, the girl's gaze was greeted with the vision of the stonewall parallel to her bed and the closed window perpendicular to it. 

_"I wonder what colour is the sky now…" _She thought._ "It was of such indigo violence just hours ago…"_ Narrowing her eyes slightly, so as to extinguish all the darkness around her and focus only on the window and the little light it shed, the small child tried to grasp any clues of what the outside would behold her in the morning. _"I can't see clearly and it's still so dark… What time must it be? I don't know… maybe the storm has moved on… Oh, well!"  _

Deciding to go there and see for herself instead of dazzling off to sleep, the blonde girl took a deep breath, noticing, for the first time, how elaborate and heavy her heaves sounded in the silence of the room, the dryness of her throat making itself evident to her.__

Furthermore, the young child sensed an awkward wetness on the skin between her blonde brows and so, she searched for her hand to wipe the transpiration off.

"By the Mother--!" 

Questioning sapphire orbs widened slightly as the petite blonde acknowledged the sudden inertia of her slender arm, searching, underneath the white sheet covering her small frame, the reason of her immobility.

Gingerly, her free hand tore the light material away from her curled body…

Quistis' eyes widened slightly in surprise, the events of the previous night slowly creeping back into her memory as her brain finally brought itself into awaking terms. 

Softly, the little child's expression melted into a whole-hearted smile, the surprise in her sapphire gems quickly dissolving into the tender brotherly love she felt whenever _he_ was around.

_"What a cute little sight…" _She mused, her eyes travelling along the sight of her tiny four-years-old bedmate: a blonde rebel-haired small boy with a strange black tattoo across his left cheek.

Almost as though he thought he was holding a soft teddy bear firmly against his chest, Zell had happily entangled his arms in hers, holding it close as he sucked contentedly the thumb of his free hand.

Cautiously, Quistis tried to free herself from Zell's hold, pushing his tiny possessive arms away from her own.

Sweatdropping, the blonde girl found her attempts to be completely futile, since her small companion refused to let her go, his peaceful expression shifting to a light frown and the sucking on his tiny thumb becoming stronger.

"Okay,"_ she thought. _"this is going to be more difficult than last time…"

Analysing her situation carefully, Quistis' mind couldn't help but wonder if he knew. If he ever knew about their connection or if that strength was meant to her: _"So that I wouldn't let go."_ She added mentally. _"Because he never would."_

She shook her head gently, dismissing those thoughts.

_"Yes,"_ She complied. 

She had to get to the window. 

Something that lingered over her most delicate senses and which urgency seemed to increase, if nothing, because of the uncomfortableness the perspiration between her brows was causing her, was calling her - whispering her to rise and search for the comfort she had always found in the ocean.

And she wished to obey that call.

She desired the freedom that that call offered her…

Gazing at the sleeping blonde boy, Quistis resigned herself against the idea of taking his spirit away from Dreamland and sighted, a playful smile crossing the girl's features as she reached for her dear friend's ear and whispered tenderly to him. "Zell, quit being a baby. Take that thumb out of your mouth _now_."  She told him, emphasising the word _now_, somehow reflecting the nervous anxiety that was slowly setting in. 

Quistis was sure that, since the little boy knew how much it annoyed her, he would surely shift in his sleep just by her mention of it-- _"Bingo!"_

The small blonde boy unconsciously let his thumb slip from his lips, his expression gaining a cute addiction of innocent guilt – resembling the one he showed whenever he took a cookie from the jar without Matron's permission and got caught – and he shuddered, but, still, his arm refused to let her go.

Sighting in exasperation, Quistis leaned closer to her little bed-mate's face, her other arm squeezing his small frame against her own, feeling his peaceful breathing on her bare skin. Then, her voice, smooth as the purest of silks, murmured in his ear the lullaby she had been singing to him since the day her mother died, therefore not being able to sing it to him herself.

"**Hush now, my baby**

**Be still love, don't cry**

Sleep like you're rocked by the stream**" She sang sweetly, her arm leaving it's resting place around his back to permit her fingers to caress anew the boy's blonde hair lightly, while watching him lovingly through semi-closed eyelids.**

"**Sleep and remember**

My lullaby

**And I'll be with you when you dream**"Nudging his cheek gently, like her mother used to do, Quistis drifted momentarily, a picture she cherished slowly fading into view.

Giggles and laughter could be heard like delicate silver bells above the sound of waves gently caressing the rocky formations of the crescent-shaped cove.

"Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Can I touch him?" A small restless girl inquired, dancing around the tall beautiful woman sitting on the low levels of the purplish rocks, the soft murmur of the thin stream of water running down the cove's blue walls being heard in the familiar background… - a whispered humming the two-years-old child instinctively related to '_home'_.

"Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Oh, please… Can I touch him?" She asked anew in a hopeful chide, her petite frame twirling as incessantly as a newly-born chicobo, her blonde short curls creating a golden halo of light around her tiny face.

"**Drift as I'm singing to you**" 

_"Now, now, Quitis, calm down!" Advised the seated woman as she tugged the blanket closer to the eight-months-old baby resting in her arms, her long dark-strawberry blonde hair caught in a exquisite bun in the back of her head. "You'll hurt yourself if you don't stop soon!"_

_"Oh, zut!" The blonde child protested as she came to an abrupt stop. _

**"**I see you smiling

**So peaceful and calm**" 

Quistis wished he remembered the same blurry pictures that perpetuated in her mind, as her voice whispered the lulling song in Zell's ear, the peaceful smile he wore faded in her eyes into the one of the woman she had known since the very first day of her life.

Watching the irritated face her daughter was pulling, the beautiful woman giggled quietly before subduing her crystalline laughter into a charming serene smile, her rosy lips unable to betray the love she felt for those two children, a small bundle of clothes – Zell like Quistis remembered him from those days – held in her delicate porcelain arms.

As the blonde child approached her mother, the strawberry-blonde woman lowered the bundle for her to see. 

Contentedly, the girl peeked into her mother's lap, catching sight of her baby 'brother's cute little face, his big ice-blue eyes staring at her with awe, his tiny little arms stretched out for her, his mouth opening for a short laughter of happiness.

_Caressing lightly his blonde rebel hair, Quistis pale hand descended to his left cheek and traced the peculiar black design drawn on his soft skin._

Quistis ocean-blue eyes locked with Zell's ice-blue ones, her fingers entwining in his.

_Smiling beautifully, the blonde child held her gaze steadily upon the tiny creature in front of her for long quiet moments._

_Suddenly, Quitis turned her attention to her mother's watchful expression and beamed at her, her silky voice exclaiming proudly: "He has a black drawing like yours, mommy!"_

The blonde woman smiled, her free hand reaching for her left cheek, her fingers searching to feel the black tattoo underneath them.

"Quisty, would you like to help me put him to sleep?" She asked.

Shifting her gaze uncomfortably between Zell's yawning face and her mother's, Quistis looked insecure and doubtful. "Do you think I can?" She asked the older blonde, a peculiar expression of unfaith crossing her cute features.

Laughing lightly, the beautiful strawberry-haired woman used her free arms to squeeze Quistis against herself and her brother's bundle. "Of course you can, my little mermaid!" Her mother said, encouragedly.

_Soon, daughter and mother joined in a melodious duet, the sound of the silvery stream in the background providing the tunes for their peaceful lullaby._

_"**And holding you I'm smiling too**"_

Quistis noticed that Zell's grip on her arm had weakened, - so completely relaxed he was – and she carefully pushed him away. 

Quickly, the young blonde girl wiped the light eavesdrops on her forehead with the back of her pale hand, sliding down from her bed as quietly and undisturbly as a shadow, and, grabbing the covers that had fallen onto the ground during the night, Quistis covered the small boy's body, straightening the ends and tugging them around him, gently.

"**Here in my arms**

**Safe from all harm**" 

Snaking her arms around his neck for one more hug, Quistis kissed him on the forehead.

"**Holding you, I'm smiling too**"

Withdrawing from her feathery embrace, Quistis retreated to the window, giving into the anxious desire that had been eating her as long as that night had lasted, one last thought crossing momentarily her busy mind. _"Someday I, too, won't be able to sing it to him anymore."_

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **^_^; So………………………………… how bad was it? I mean, admitting you _actually_ read it to the end…….?  Did I confuse you much? I sure hope I did!!!!! ^_^ I like to confuse people a lot… (that's what Sagara says…) Anyways, be sure to tell me what you think!!!!! 

**P.S. –** Once again, thanks for all the reviews!!!! ^_^


	4. Part One: Chap. 04 - The Daybreak of the...

**DISCLAIMER:** You know the story… not mine, all Square's… using them for entertainment purpose ONLY… so… DON'T SUE!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Okay, so I'm not happy with this chapter, either! Really!!! I'm dying to start kicking in the REAL action!!!!! –_– Oh, well… Thanks for the support Sagara and Tears of Stardust!!! You know I love ya!!! ^_^

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS CHAPTER FOUR: THE DAYBREAK OF THE SOUL 

Measuring the pressure she applied in her every step almost automatically, Quistis moved to the large window oriented to the vastness of the sea and pulled the two panels apart from one another, the distance between them just enough for her body to access the coldness of the night. 

Looking at the dark-blue waters before her, Quistis breathed the night's scent and rejoiced at the blissful sensation of the little rain against her bare skin, her blonde above-shoulder lengthened hair waving in the night's breeze in playful curls.

Searching in the Southeast distance sighs of the weather, the blonde girl acknowledged that the storm had since long moved on - bound to the will of the rebellious winds of the Centra Continent, no doubt - leaving behind the soft whisper of tiny droplets still falling from the indigo coloured sky and the memory of the terror it had cast upon the children who inhabited the Lighthouse.

The young girl supported her elbows on the cold window sill, gently resting her small blonde head on her delicate hands, the feeling of a link… a connection-- a chain almost – uniting her with every single little thing surrounding her lingering pleasantly over her every sense.

Here, in the rain, she really felt home… 

Here, she felt one with her own… 

It was as if an invisible contract stated that she belonged to the rain and the rain belonged to her… 

_"This feeling… it… it was never this strong before…"_

Jumping at a slight shiver in her forehead, Quistis quickly pressed her fingers against the oversensitive skin, surprised at how touchy she was.

_"Did I just felt… relieved?" _She wondered.__

She shuddered the thought, watching absent-mindedly as the dark-blue hues of the night quickly melted into the indigo and purples of a dawning day, the ache diminishing alongside the darkness.

_"My _**_Heart __is waiting beyond the humming of the Nereids, where the gentle touch of the sea welcomes his spirit into part of this oblivion we are endlessly torn into… I hope the Fates will be kinder to us this Time, Fiery One…" _The promised words floated in her mind – surely taken from one of Matron's stories – though, even as not said by her, to her – the feeling of longing they bid seemed all the more vivid in the girl's spirit. She felt, stronger than ever, the urge to get out of those stone grey walls and walk into the awaking atmosphere of dawn. **

Playing the words in her mind again, Quistis couldn't help but let a subdued giggle escape her lips. _"After all, what sense does it make?"_ She commented as she retreated from her little watching position and reached for the metal handles of the wooden framed window. 

Filling her lungs one last time with cold fresh air, Quistis pulled the handles together and carefully closed the window, joking mentally. _"Hey, wait for me Heart, I'm coming…… Nereids, watch out!"_

Turning her back to the purples hues of the sky, careful not make a sound, Quistis' eyes travelled across the bedroom in which she had slept the last three years of her life, enjoying the seemingly frozen in time scene before her.

It was a tiny small room, that in which the girls slept, with its wall's light hues of green, its hand-woven soft carpet on the floor, its simple jars filled with beautiful flowers – all of the simplest and cosiest one could ask for: a poor – but nice – embodiment of the Centra good taste.

But it was on the three unusually pulled together low beds, made of a dark red wood, that Quistis' attention was gripped upon. 

There, cuddled against each other, five forms could be guessed underneath the blankets, which protected them from the night's coldness.

On the faraway bed, Quistis could see a sleeping eleven-years-old girl, her short above-shoulder brown hair framing her beautiful face, her slender arms embracing loosely a younger boy of dishevelled darker-brown hair, who returned the hug and rested his head on her chest. 

On the middle bed, a brown cowboy hat laid at the side of a small brown-haired girl and boy, that slept peacefully in each others arms, sharing their bodies warmth and comfort, a smile playing in both their content faces, the night's fears long since forgotten.

On the nearest bed, curled in a tight ball, was the sleeping figure of Zell, the young boy obliviously missing the warmth of her body heat – despite the extra-blankets she had placed over him.

Casting one last glance at the sleeping children, the little girl turned around quietly, pacing skilfully across the bedroom, her short-sleeved cotton night gown rustling loudly against her delicate skin when compared to her controlled breathing and careful steps, the light material reaching short past her knees, the pale blues fading into white in a beautiful _dégradé _that matched her eyes perfectly.

_"No wonder, though."_ That the blue in her clothes could match so fairly the hues that her mesmerising orbs held._ "After all, Matron made it for me."_

The girl smiled serenely at the memory of her beloved Matron sitting beside a window, the cotton she now wore in her hands, a completely blank spotless white before her unique touch. She remembered her exasperated sight as she stared at the hopeless material, fingering it's soft surface with pity. 

She had walked toward her, her ocean-like orbs inquiring the older woman the reason of her sadness. Then, one hand on the cotton, another caressing Quistis' face, Matron had proceeded to explain nothing was at matter, her face holding a lovingly smile as she looked at Quistis preoccupied blue eyes.

This had seemed to high the blonde girl's spirits up, but still, she had moved her gaze rather seriously to the material Matron was holding. Surprised, Matron glanced at her other hand and saw pale shades of ocean-blue flowing down her hand and into the fabric, colouring it beautifully. Eyes widening, the older woman had searched to look at the small child, worried for her reaction.

Smiling, Quistis had whispered to her, motioning to the fabric _"It's beautiful."_

The older woman had thanked her with a smile of her own and she had said, _"I want you to have it."_

Edging away from the girl's bedroom into the oh-so-familiar wooden hall that led to the stairs, Quistis moved as quietly as a shadow, passing the boy's bedroom as silently and carefully as if they were there. 

Creeping down the carved in wood and stone steps, the young child reached the kitchen and glanced at the table where the children who lived in Edea's orphanage shared their meals. 

Not wasting any more thoughts on her memories, young Quistis focused on the door that lead outside the Lighthouse, her heart beating with controlled anxiety. 

Too slowly for her hysterical need of freedom, the blonde child closed the distance between her and the door, her diligence for not being detected by any of the house's inhabitants not faltering even when she turned the metal knob.

Quickly, the child pulled the door ajar, careful to not make it creak, and edged in a fluid feline movement through the opening, the large wooden frame soundlessly coming to shut itself behind her slim body.

Walking on the wet sand with bare feet had always made her feel extremely happy, and strolling around by the ocean at the sheer breaking of dawn was no exception.

She trilled each morning to share herself with the ocean and let it become one with her, she loved the feeling of belonging and freedom it provided and the sweet tunes it made her evident of…

Stretching her arms above her blonde little head, Quistis took the opportunity to let a longed-for yawn escape her rosy lips, her expression one of pure delight as her toes played with the wet sand at her bare feet.

The storm had truly cleared over now, leaving in the sky puffy white clouds that embroidered it with creamy formations.

…the calm after the storm as a relaxing therapy for two…

"Brrr…" She managed to mumble as the icy cold water touched and lingered on her sensitive skin, making the hair at the back of her neck stay pleasantly on end, the electricity of the ocean lighting up her mood. 

Quistis allowed her blonde strands to be toyed gently by the ocean breeze, their silkiness caressing her soft cheeks as she danced and twirled in unison with the currents and the breeze, stepping gracefully on the water and causing it to spill onto her cheeks and gown, freshening them with the morning scent of the sea.

Giggling, Quistis brought her hands into the crystal liquid and threw a handful of it into the air, the brilliant teardrops causing her to laugh whole-heartily, as she gazed at the profusely mesmerising beauties surrounding her being, admiring the palette of blues and greens with awe…

…Blues and Greens…

_"What the--"_ Quistis' mind called.

Narrowing her eyes to focus better, Quistis slowly moved her head to her right. _"What?"_ Her mind questioned.

The blonde child began to pace quickly further away from the Lighthouse, sure that her sharp vision had caught the glimpse of something unusual against the peacefulness of the mirror-like surface some fifteen meters away from her. 

Either stupidly, instinctively or bravely, she'd never know, but… if thought closely, one thing had obviously lead to another. 

Dashing along the ocean line, Quistis ran smoothly but firmly some few meters from her target, diagnosing her route into the water. Hastily, she reached out for a golden mass of soaked hair, kicking a rotten wooden board on her way there.

Skilfully she dove her hands into the ocean and pulled a boy out of it.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Is it just me, or these chapters are really short…? Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed it!!! 'Till next time!!!! ^_^


	5. Part One: Chap. 05 - A Knight's Illusion

**DISCLAIMER:** You know the story… not mine, all Square's… using them for entertainment purpose ONLY… so… DON'T SUE!

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Thanks to all the people out there who have been reading my works and, specially, to those who have been supporting it and reviewing it! I know it's no news but… YOU GUYS ARE TOPS!!! ^_^ (I really do love to do that…) 

PART ONE: THE MISTS WITHIN CHAPTER FIVE: A KNIGHT'S ILLUSION 

_Emptiness._

_Absolute and complete vastness of cold an unpleasant emptiness._

_He could sense it, even if he could not open his eyes and testify the blinding darkness by himself._

_He almost felt like he was in a strange vacuum, devoid of scent or sound… an odd coma – as if his organism held him by suspended animation in an attempt to keep his frail body alive, shutting all his systems down in the process, and leaving his soul to drift aimlessly in the mysterious limbo, oblivious to the fact that that may have been it's last stay within the boy's small shell…_

_::Come home, little one…:: Honeyed voices pleaded, their whispered tones echoing endlessly in the abysm. ::Come… Come with us……… Return to the protection of your mother's womb…………… Don't you want to be loved…?::_

_"Whe-where am I? Why am I here?" He asked dizzily, slipping further into the darkness. "There was something I was searching for, but I can't remember what…"_

_::Love… you were searching for love…:: The voices replied more sweetly. ::Come with us… Live no more in fear… You'll be safe and warm with us… Your search has ended… We'll love you…" They continued. " Search no more, fiery one… Come to us… Love has been found… Come…::_

_The boy felt his energies slowly withdrawing as the voices lulled his spirit into a dream-like state of unawareness, his questions barely audible amid the confusing whimpers. "What is this place? Is this a place at all?"_

_::Sleep eternally, small one……… Rest has been found… Come…… Love awaits you in forever's lap… Come…… Have no fears…… Your fight is over… Surrender……… Come to us…::_

A muffled sound seemed to be heard in the darkness – a voice different from all the others – but yet so similar – though his spirit paid to it no heed.

_"Sur…render………?" The boy's spirit asked uncertainly, waking up the slightest bit at the spoken words. "You mean… Defeat………?"_

_::Yes, little one…… Abandon this life… it had never a meaning to you……::_

_Again a blur of words echoed in the pitch-black depths._

_"But--"_

_::Come……… Come to us…:: The voices urged._

 "NO!!!!!!! DYRE!!!!!" _A high soprano scream tore through the darkness and died abruptly into the depths, its words swallowed by the vacuum that surrounded him._

_::………Come…:: The voices indulged him, seducing him. ::You'll be safe and loved… Don't you want to be loved…?:: _

_At that, the voices silenced - as if waiting - and their echoes faded and ceased in the limbo's depths._

_After a minute's silence, the boy's spirit grinned, defiantly._

_"I… won't… surrender…" He stated. "…I won't be defeated… Shiri…" he pleaded. "I'm falling…… No. It's worse than falling…… I'm sinking……… where ar--"_

_In a sudden twirl, he found himself jerking upwards,_ _sitting in nowhere to be seen, amid a glowing bubble of light; his spirit pulled by an unseen force to it's rightful place. _

_Bringing his hands to his face, he found himself washed by renewed sensations, stormy blue eyes opening to allow him to peek through the spaces between his fingers._

_He was alive and breathing - he was sure of that. _

_How?, he had no idea…_

_::Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi…::  _

_He spun around, looking suspiciously at the light enveloping him, searching for some kind of justification for the unexpected change of scenario. _

_From the walls, as "it" had any walls at all, came fine shaped blue-skinned women, dressed in seaweed-like purplish robes, their cold features fading into view._

_He paralysed on the spot as the feminine figures closed up on him, circling him as hungry predators would do to their prey._

"Who are you?" The small boy inquired, brusquely.

_The creatures did not answer him in any way, loathe evident in their misty eyes._

_Slowly, one of them sealed the distance, which parted the ethereal females from his frozen body, standing silently some scarce cold inches away from him._

_The visible proximity was more than enough for him to realise that he was becoming comfortingly hot against the freeziness of all that surrounded him. _

_The woman smiled evilly at him, her pearly white teeth showing as the others soon join her, forming a suffocating circle._

_For the second time that day, he felt scared._

_The bluish females continued their insistent stares, feeding a poisonous silence and it wasn't long before his impulsive nature gave up on waiting for the womanly figures to speak._

_"Where am I?" He demanded fiercely. _

_Staring intensely at him, none of them made a move whatsoever to answer him. However in their eyes burned the anticipation to grace him with severe words of disdain. _

_As one was about to do so, she stopped and all creatures looked above, beyond the blanket of whiteness that surrounded him._

_Sceptically, the small blonde boy also raised his eyes to the constant wallpaper of those strange domains, wondering briefly over whatever had taken the nymphs' attention away from him._

_After drawn moments, the women lowered their eyes and looked straight at him, in nerving and inhuman synchronisation.  _

_The woman who had firstly approach him, smiled devilishly, lifting the boy's chin with one frozen finger. ::We must thank you, fiery one…:: She said through closed lips. ::Without your _precious _help, she would never have accepted it.::_

_"What are you talking about?" He demanded._

_Ignoring his question, the nymph continued. ::So, what is it like to be - once again - the source of all her future pain, pathetic one?:: She asked in a hiss, gesturing smoothly above._

_"What--?!!!" He exclaimed furiously. _

_::Hush,:: She urged seductively. :: we won't disturb you any further.::_

_Then, with intoxicating vengeful triumph, she grinned. ::Our mistress seeks our aid.:: _

_His eyes widened and, he was about to protest, when she cut in._

_::This conversation never took place.::_

_In a flash, she waved her hand and, once again, he was thrown and torn, the night seeming endless to his mortal eyes, echoes of unspoken thoughts from both parts floating in his mind…_

Little boy, what do you think of yourself?

_All of these years…_

In your heart, when you think of you,

_…have I been deceiving  myself?_

Is there an empty void or a darkest thought?

_These thoughts and these emotions…_

Behold, there is nothing here for you

_…I feel them every time I'm with them…_

Little boy, you labour under an illusion…

"What--?"

Realise the unpleasant truth, foolish boy

_Are they true?_

The world seems so different from the way it really is.

_Or have I been wrong all along?_

_"What? Did I just saw--??"_

Have no illusions about this: 

_Maybe within myself,_

You were wrong. Always wrong. 

_Way deep inside my heart,_

So, now you see… Your ideals weren't that strong.

_I have always known that all this was an illusion…_

_"An illusion?"_

Little boy, you live under an illusion.

_But I have no illusions about this…_

Your illusion.

_…I'm in love with you._

"???"

Welcoming the cold sensation of the salty liquid against her body up to her belly, the blonde girl, in a fluid movement, dove her slender arms into the sea and reached for the object of her pursuit. Her expectant hands were quick to touch his soft skin, her fingertips registering the sensations the small contact had caused before carefully sliding around his form.

_"The hel-- Hyne!!! He's-- hot?!" _Gently circling the boy's waist – at least the maximum her tiny arms allowed her too – the blonde girl wondered over the reason for the strange warmth his body irradiated – even more! – maintained while in contact with the iciness of the water. "_How can this be? He must have been in the ocean for hours!?!! It's--"_

A voice in her mind echoed over her doubts and ceaseless questions, cutting her previous line of thought. _::--wait.:: _It said simply. _::Save the boy now and  ask questions later.::_

Quistis quietly obligated, for once not stopping to feel the advice creating roots in her most reliable instincts, and therefore dismissing the unconscious knowledge it often provided. 

"Uh-hum… he's--" Gingerly, she tried to push her catch out of the water and, as she mumbled curses under her breath, his unexpected weight pulled her underneath the water's thin sheet.

SPLASH!!!!

Bubbles fluttered all around her face, tickling her cheeks and blinding her vision, her short hair floating gentle in the water. As soon as the small balloons of air escaped from view, Quistis began to blink furiously, in an attempt to focus her vision.

And then she saw him.

Not the soaked golden island of hair that had been floating aimlessly at the surface of the ocean, supported only by his arm that had been resting, abandoned, over the board she had kicked afar.

No, now she could _really_ see him.

Clinging tightly to his waist, Quistis spend scarce moments beholding the content of her hold.

A sleeveless navy blue shirt with a white cross-shaped design embroidered in it covered, what she felt, a strong large-shouldered chest, and that left bare his slightly muscled sun-burnt arms; his dark pants hiding the power of his legs as his golden short blonde hair waved in a way similar to her own, creating a beautiful halo of white light around his promising handsome features.

_"The way the sunlight hits his hair… it's like a white fire and he's so warm…… I-I almost feel-- I almost feel like I know him… Like somewhen before, we…"_ Quistis felt herself gasp, water entering her parted lips, her mind shifting to matters more at hand._ "The surface…!"_

Jerking herself out of the water, strength renewed, Quistis half-pushed, half-swam the blonde boy in the shore's direction, kicking the water almost desperately, since she couldn't handle the boy's weight. 

"You know what? You're heavy!" Quistis spat at the unconscious boy, grabbing him clumsily like a potato sac, gripping the material of his clothes with all the fierceness she possessed - the only way of fighting his eventual fall.

Quistis'eyes widened fearfully as she began to merge from the waters, her sensitive fingertips informing her of the growing change taking place on the boy's skin. _"His temperature? It's lowering?!! How--?!!"_

Gingerly, she placed the boy on the wet sand. Applying her wet fingers on his neck, she checked his pulse, just before she carefully lowered her small blonde head on the boy's chest, verifying if he was  breathing. _"Well, you seem well enough… your pulse is regular and your breathing is strong… I really loved to know how you managed--"_ Her mind froze.__

Raising her blonde crown of hair, the girl searched for the indistinct menace of she-didn't-know what. Scanning diligently every inch of her surroundings, she was surprised to notice that she had never been this few meters near this side of the beach.

Goosebumps came up her spine as she acknowledged, in a cold sweat, that she must be far beyond Matron's barrier. Her attentive hears caught the sound of a light groan and, unfortunately for the young girl, it did not seem as if it had come from the boy.

_"It's okay, it's alright…" _She repeated to herself. _"That was just an Adamatoise waking up to pick the loose wrecks of the storm-- like…*gulp* him…?"_ Bad line of thought, her mind warned as she shifted a fearful gaze to the blonde boy lying on the sand. 

Shaking her head, the blonde girl tried to dismiss those thoughts. _"Focus! FOCUS!" _She ordered herself, silently. _"Don't let fear overcome you! Analyse the situation!" _Obediently, Quistis pulled from the back of her memory all that could be of use to her at the moment. _"The Adamatoises are very much blind out of the water; they won't see us and our smell is well dissimulated with the scent of the sea water. I'll just have to get us beyond the barrier... that is if I can find where it is…"_

Edea Kramer, the Matron of the Lighthouse Orphanage, had erected an enormous globular  barrier around the house with the help of a bottled GF: Diablos. The barrier had strong purple coloured definitions, which enabled the children to walk freely, without being disturbed by any monsters. All children knew to avoid the area beyond the purplish walls, had Edea, anyway, put a spell to both warn her and the children if they had crossed its frontiers. The barrier was, however, invisible from the outside so as to better shelter the children from the curious.

_"Now, I really loved to know how I managed to get through the barrier without noticing…" _Quistis wondered. _"Oh, well, no harm done…"_

Quistis closed her eyes, allowing her magic aura to expand and touch the many magical signatures that flooded the place. Diligently, the blonde girl searched in between the hank of magical threads, the presence of the spell-crafted barrier. 

Breaking her light trance, the blonde girl opened her ocean-blue eyes, content with the success of her little investigation. She had found not only the barrier, but also the presence of two large Adamantoises lurking in her direction. _"It's just a coincidence, though. They could never have detect us here. In either ways, I should get moving…"_

The five-years-old blonde girl sighted and was assaulted by a scent she should have identified long ago, and that, now, compromised their unnoticed escape.

_"Oh, Hyne! No, please! Not the smell of--"_

Lifting the boy's limp body, Quistis saw her fears confirmed…

There, at the back of his navy blue shirt and gradually forming a fire-red stain…

"…Blood… Why didn't I smell it before? Even with the heavy smell of the sea, I should have noticed!!! Oh, now what?!"

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** I know, I know… Confusing, isn't it? ^_^; Well, it will get better…………. eventually… (I hope…) .


	6. Part One: Chap. 06 - A King's Daughter

**DISCLAIMER:** Look, if I owned FFVIII, I wouldn't be writing in the F-A-N--F-I-C-T-I-O-N section, now would I?

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**As you can see, I renamed the prologue. Sagara's right: it was getting too big even for my usual prologues… 

Anyhow, I named this part "Within The Mists", which remotes me to two things: "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon" (which is in fact great, because I'm writing in her prologue style). 

Are you wondering why I took so long? Well, I have two good reasons for that: my English teacher (that bitch, who put me in the longest writer's block I've ever had); and the fact that this chapter (read: this and the next) is longer than all previous five parts put together. 

Also, I had a hard time writing action. This is about my first time doing it, by the way, and, obviously, I'm not that good. 

Well, but I'm getting carried away, and you must be bored to death by now, so let's get starting…

**ABOUT THE RATING:** Oh! One more thing! There'll be naughty cursing, etc, etc. – since Seifer is in the fic, right? But I dunno if I should raise the rating… You tell me, okay?

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS 

CHAPTER SIX: A KING'S DAUGHTER

The sun shone brightly and warmly high above the place where he stood upon his trusted steed.  Still, the white fire rays reflected themselves with brilliance upon the polished surface of his dark blue armoured chest and gilded his short blonde hair.

_He held his head high, proudly, savouring the gentle touch of the sea breeze against his broad neck as he studied his surroundings from such privileged surveying spot._

_The beast underneath him moved a step forward, restless. Like his master, he did not enjoy immobility all that much. The dark blue-coated rider smiled at this and allowed himself to bend slightly, caressing his companion's long white mane with devoted affection as he whispered soothing words in the beast's ear._

_Reassured, the imposing stallion straightened himself, striking a pose that – he knew – had been sure to demoralise that lurking Geezard from attacking his master._

_Applying a friendly smack to his companion's neck, the blonde man also returned to his previous position, raising his steel blue - almost grey - eyes to the sky, watching as seabirds of all shapes and sizes squirmed in the sapphire clear heights. _

_He frowned slightly at the intense sunlight and expertly manoeuvred his mounting few steps backwards. He wore a lengthened dark coat over his muscular large shouldered torso, the resistant fabric partly concealing both his light armour and his trusty blade. Gallantly mounted as he was, one was sure to think we was no other than a knight – readying himself to save his lady love from the traitorous and murderous claws of a fierce Ruby Dragon, impetuously and courageously using his fighting skills…_

_…One was not all that wrong… _

_For the symbol embroidered on his coat's right sleeve, over the lower region of his upper arm, spoke of his noblest condition: with a light blue crescent Moon serving as background to a vertical sword and to two large white wings sided with it, there could be no possible doubt… That was truly the symbol of the Silver Order of Knighthood._

_This particular knight, however, had never liked the stupid thing… As though he had faced all kinds of hardships to gain the honour of wearing it, he found it far to _gay_ for his taste. He would have preferred something simpler, something _fierier...

But not using the Code's icon meant having the High Knights after his ass. And, for as much as the idea of ripping the symbol off of his coat right in front of them secretly amused him, he was far to young to have the crap beaten out of him by shitty speeches about tradition this and tradition that - it was just plain not fucking worth it.

_And it was not just the symbol that pissed him off: rules had never been his best shot and he knew it - seeing that they were followed was one thing, but following them himself was another matter entirely. He had a fondness to do things right… but by his own way of doing them._

_It was a written fact that if it hadn't been for his natural leadership skills, confidant determination and almost inhuman fighting talent, he would never had made it into the Order. The Goddess to be thanked for that, the High Knights still praised and rewarded gifted warriors with ideals such as his – though – strict at they were, he had been submitted to numerous tests anyhow._

_So one could have thought correctly to guess that that respectful figure was indeed a knight, but fail to understand his motives. Dyre, despite his small problem with authority, had always been a man of high values and his devotion to protect people's hopes and dreams stunned even the most loyal Knights of his Order. For he, also, had a dream--_

_The handsome blonde cursed under his breath. He could feel pain – spreading – pinning at his heart... He couldn't place its source; he hadn't time to attempt on curing it… His mind became foggy and incoherent…_

_Moments later, the knight lay helplessly on the ground._

The rough material of the boy's shirt was sticky and heavy from his lost of blood – Quistis could feel its resistance once she lead her right hand underneath it, carefully ungluing it from his skin so as to unravel the wounds beneath.

She had laid him down on his belly and his face rested abandoned and livid over the red stained sand, his short dishevelled blonde hair clinging to his closed eyelids, his purple lips quivering soundlessly. 

Kneeled at his side, Quistis observed his back intently as her handiwork proceeded, biting her lower lip nervously as wide – almost parallel – marks came slowly into view; cruel red gashes that ripped his soft skin along their length, each and every one of them bleeding fluidly – as if just opened.

Any other five years old child would have run – crying, screaming at such horrid sight… 

…but not Quistis.

Reaching for her nightgown's concealed pocket, her pale delicate fingers clasped firmly around the glassy surface of a bottled Potion. 

Sighting with relief - almost with gratitude - for her foreseeing, Quistis quietly removed the cork with her mouth, the fire in her sapphire coloured eyes burning ever so serious and determined. 

Coolly, the blonde girl tested the red gashes by applying a small amount of pressure and, lead by the boy's shivers and quiet grunts, she soon found their most critical spot.

_"This is no game." She reminded herself, coldly. __"I can die here just like three years ago. The only difference is that I'm willing to do something about it. I have the power to do it."_

Glancing at the boy's unmoving features, Quistis wondered for a brief second. _"Your wounds weren't here before, though. And there's nothing here where you could have hurt yourself this way. I know this beach. I know these waters. I know the nearby ocean. That leaves me with one option…"_

"…what have _they done to you…?" She whispered in a drawn voice. "…_how_…?"_

_"But most importantly: how am I going to take us both through the barrier? This Potion" She turned her gaze to the semitransparent glass object she held in her left hand, levelling with her eyes. __"is not sufficient to heal your wounds……… and I'm not capable of performing healing spells…" She concluded with bitterness._

[Flashback]

_An elegant raven-haired woman paced the room patiently, correcting each of the children lined in front of her - one in his posture, the other in her pronunciation._

_"Now," She said in a orderly tone, "you'll do just as I taught you and you'll manage to heal little wounds like the cuts you made this morning." The children winced at the word 'cuts', hiding their bruised hands behind their backs embarrassedly. _

_They had been planning on collecting berries to do some jam for Winter and went out first thing in the morning to bring them by launch time as a surprise for Matron. But since Squall had forgotten to bring their gloves, they ended up bruising their hands and having a lecture once they got home._

_Well, Matron was somewhat grateful, too. She had been wondering for a while about how to fix them something on which they could practise simple healing spells like 'Cure'. _

_She knew that the sooner they learned to wield their powers into a sole purpose, – even if a simple one – the quicker she would cease to have to correct the damage done by their occasional magical outbursts. You see, for children born with magic, like these, certain knowledge had to be passed, so they could live a normal life and not endanger others._

_It had been her chosen task to introduce these children to their world of power – their spirit._

_And so, Sorceress Edea watched as Ellone easily produced a small bow of light that circled her hand and cured it completely; as Squall made sparks appear over his hand, erasing his wounds (even if he did frown, which meant if was hurting) and making the ground beneath him shake a little – a side effect of the manifestation of his power; and Selphie created glowing balls of light that, after tickling her and running twice around the room, eventually cured her._

_Now the real work began. _

_While Ellone and Selphie used types of magic very similar to each other, vocational to healing processes and Squall used a kind of magic connected with the body and its protection; Irvine's power, for some odd reason, acted as Selphie's echo – only appearing after hers appeared, but never while and – if given time – eventually blocking hers; Quistis' magic was rebel and difficult to leash and Zell hadn't the patience to concentrate properly on what he was doing._

_After congratulating Selphie and Squall (Ellone had previously mastered this spell, since she was older than them) and giving some hints to Irvine, Edea noticed that Zell was wide-eyed, staring at Quistis' palm._

_The woman rounded Zell, just in time to see a blue spiralled symbol explode into thousands of tiny fragments of sapphire coloured light. Quistis withdrew her hand – now carrying more cuts and bruises than it did before – and lowered her blonde head, a sad, yet serious, look hovering over her features, a thin line of blood traced up her forearm. _

_The small tattooed boy walked over to Quistis and hugged her tightly murmuring her name to make sure she knew he was there. _

_Quistis' power had been always like this: violent, unpredictable. Many times, it left the young girl in temporary trances, during which he wasn't able to reach her. He knew that if it hadn't been for the trust she had in Matron's magical protections, Quistis would have left the orphanage long ago – for his and the other's sake… So she had told him more than once…_

_"Quisty, please…" Zell called, almost on the verge of tears. "It's okay, I'm here. I'm all right. You didn't hurt me." He whispered, pulling the older girl closer to him. "…It's okay…" A tear escaped his sky blue eyes and rolled down his cheek, rosy lips quivering at her silence. "…please…"_

_Quietly, Edea approached the two children, grateful that the others hadn't noticed the scene yet. The sorceress touched Zell gently on the shoulder, so he would let go the older blonde._

_Sniffing reluctantly, the spiky haired boy broke the embrace, looking at Matron with wide and lost shimmering eyes, and then clumsily stepped back._

_The raven-haired woman kneeled in front of Quistis, caressing the girl's golden locks away from her ocean blue eyes. Softly, she lifted her chin so her eyes weren't cast blankly on the wooden floor anymore, but rather on the wall behind the sorceress._

_"Quistis," Edea hushed, feeling sympathy for the young girl. "It's okay. You're only four years old, you don't need to master these spells just yet."_

_The blonde girl remained silent for a moment, the other children's eyes coming to rest finally on her. Slowly – almost as if devoid of life – her clouded blue eyes focused on the colours and textures of the wall and from there on to Matron's sweet and sombre violet eyes._

_The two stood there for drawn moments and Edea saw – she didn't know if with relief or worry – the natural resemblance with the ocean that her eyes usually held conquering the misty depths that had previously taken over, the girl, for once, forcing a small smile upon her lips. _

_"But Matron, it's not that I can't do this spell." She said flatly. "The problem is that I can't control my magic. I have something to settle before I'll able to do it."_

[End of Flashback]

Suddenly, the blonde's fingers lost their grip on the bottle, sending it flying down on the boy's exposed back with a small thud, producing a shiver from the boy.

She gasped, not even taking notice as the liquid flowed randomly over the boy's skin, taking little effect on the deeper wounds, but successfully erasing the smaller ones to thin reddish lines and keeping most of them from bleeding so profusely.

The young blonde didn't even acknowledge how his eyelids moved faintly…

Her mind was elsewhere… but not as far as she wished.

_"By Nen! The adamatoises--  they're… gone!!!!!"_

Waking meekly from unconsciousness, the blonde knight found himself stripped from his sword and mighty steed, his mind hazily fighting to regain the control lost on his journey.

_Heavy eyelids struggled to remain closed, unwilling to allow his greyish blue eyes to peek through the dark cloud that engulfed his mind and testify his feeble condition. _

_The fire of hurt travelled rapidly through his body, spreading down his back as he opened his mouth to scream a warning, – even though he was oblivious as to where she was – but the pain inflicted upon him muffled the sound that reached out of his throat… _   __

"Oh, shit…" The words dragged themselves out of his tired purple lips as he tried to heave himself from his position on the sand. Lifting his upper body just enough to become self-conscious of his bad shape, the boy brought his knees underneath his stomach, his legs painfully supporting his weight as he reached out to comb his sunlit hair away from his eyes.

Blinking several times, the child flinched at the sudden feeling of something warm against his shoulder and turned his head toward its direction, narrowing his eyes in instinctive menace.

Knowing of his uneasiness, Quistis slowly took her hand from his shoulder, placing it calmly in her lap. The boy in front of her seemed disoriented… lost… and, in his eyes – of a shadowed stormy blue – she knew there was nothing but confusion and fear. 

Early had Quistis learned that such feelings could lead to violence if understated.

"Boy," She called, the sound of her voice somersaulting the other blonde into a kneeling position similar to hers. "It's okay. Calm down." The girl soothed. "I won't hurt you."

The blonde boy fell backwards into the sand. All he could grasp of his whereabouts were soft faded lines – a mist of blurry shadows and light – bubbling together to form a shapeless picture…

Someone or something was in that picture.

The same that had touched him just a while ago.

The same that had spoke to him.

And we had never been inclined to trust anything as long as it breathed. 

That was why we was searching for his knife just as he tried to find anything else to use at his advantage in that foreign place… And for that he needed to see stuff first.

_The room was dark, lugubrious – but ethereal – an horrific silence ruling upon its every marble-stoned column, its every obscured frescos, its ritual inscriptions on the floor. The very ball of fire the re-haired priestess was producing in her palm seemed to repel those grounds… and Dyre could say the sight was doing much good to his already bruised insides._

_"Where are we?" The blonde knight inquired, applying to the woman's hand he was holding – more to assure himself than her – a gentle pressure to soothe her out of her trance. _

_This was her domain after all._

"Look, are you listening to me?" The girl's patience was growing short. If she couldn't get him to understand the danger they were in, she'd have to drag him all the way back – task which had been difficult before and didn't seem to have become easier by his regain of consciousness. "There are adamatoises – you know, big _hungry scary things? – coming this way and I can't sense them because of a spell called 'Shell' they cast on themselves! It's interfering with my sense of auras!"_

The blonde boy limited himself to a mocking grin.

_Marveling at how, even enraged, her voice could sound so sweet, sober and clear – reassuring in those strange depths. Her gentle __"I do not know…" seeming as if a profanation – such voice in such dark place. And she was just so clueless…_

"So what are ya saying?" The boy inquired, flatly. "Are you expecting me to believe you? Just like that…?" He asked, sinking into an awkward sitting position, his face holding a smirk that looked quite odd because of the paleness of his skin, his right hand gripping the hilt of his hidden knife with transparent confidence.

"Well, yes." She answered with her own share of conviction. "I bet you're aware that you have some nasty wounds on your back and you're not even seeing right--"

_"Dammit!" The boy cursed mentally. __"What am I into this time? How does she know my vision's all blurry and mixed up…? Unless-- unless she made it happen…?"_

"--and if you want to get out of here in time, you'll have to let me help you." She finished, getting to her feet slowly. She didn't want him to be fazed by any brisk movements. "So, how's it gonna be?" She offered, holding out her hand out to him.

_Her voice was…… not even a voice. It was a song all along._

_…And one heck of a naïve song..._

He narrowed his eyes dangerously at the extended hand, not even certain of what it was.

Once his stormy eyes settled back in that mischievous look of his, Quistis reckoned he had finally understood her offer. Actually, the boy – since he wasn't even seeing clearly – had betted on classify whatever she was throwing at him harmless… or useless… 

"Sorry, gal, but I don't fucking know you." He said, greeting his teeth. "Hence, I don't need your help. Just scram and go bother somebody else."

_"Of all the nerve!" Quistis mentally exasperated, retrieving her hand with evident annoyance__. "You just can see it can you, boy? We're sitting ducks here! Waiting for a bunch of adamantoises to feed on our heads and you're worried about who I am? What the hell are you thinking?"_

"Oh, yeah, what the hell are _you thinking? Are you trying to drag me somewhere where you can sell me as a slave? Or do you work for a sorceress whore who wants my neck for a sacrifice?"_

Ocean blue orbs became small angry slits as the blonde girl advanced on the boy, aiming at his shirt collar and barely failing it, grasping the air where he had once been sitting instead. Swiftly shifting her weight so she wouldn't crash down on the sand, she positioned herself to take him on a new blow-- but managed to stop herself.

Fisting her hands in attempt to wield her irritation, she glanced at a large stain of the same red fluid that painted her closed hands, its scent again a bitter reminder…

…of their dangerous situation. 

 "_What am I doing?" She reflected, driving other thoughts away. __"I've never – ever – lost my temper… What happened? Why did I react like that to him? I should be helping him not trying to… to…… No, not again. I won't fail anyone ever__ again__!"_

Frowning, the girl followed with her eyes the small trail of blood that led to where he half stood, holding a defensive stance – attentive to her every hint of move. One of his hands was griping firmly a small – but keen – knife and the other was clutching fiercely his lower side – trying to hold off the pain that invaded him – his lungs forcing him to take quick shallow breaths, his eyes holding nothing but an animalistic promise of violence.

Quistis swallowed dry.

_The red-haired priestess reached out to touch the walls of that gravely Ancient Sanctuary. Then, searching for the grey eyes of her sole ally in all kinds of hardships; her truest and only friend; her love – for as much as she tried to deny it – she whispered, in the distance of her trance: "I just know this is where it all began--"_

_"And this is where it will all end." A tall raven-haired woman finished, looking at them with triumphant amber-coloured eyes, sliding soundlessly across the unlit room, two long blades hissing in her deathly hold. _

"Look, I did not ask for your help! Go away!" The blonde shouted once more, feeling her stand.

"_NO!" She cried. "You look here, boy! I didn't ask to see you almost drowning by the beach! I didn't ask to have the __fucking thought of saving you then and sure as Hyne that I don't know why I'm having the same thought now! You probably won't even believe me, since I even have your blood on my hands for trying to cure your stupid wounds!! I don't even know why do I bother! It seems to me you've already decided on dying here! Well, I haven't!!!" Quistis choked, her eyes stinging with despair and frustration. "But I ain't gonna leave you here, either! I certainly don't know about you, but I have a small brother to whom I want to go back to!!!"_

"Seifer." He cut in simply.

"What?" Quistis managed, surprised; her outburst going cool under his interruption.

"Stop calling me boy." He explained patiently, bringing his armed hand to the sand, in an odd gesture of truce. "My name is Seifer. Use it."

Maybe it was the sun had that had started to shine so brightly, or the wind that had picked up into a solemn breeze; the waves that had thundered on the faraway rocks; maybe even the fire in his eyes or the life she felt in him… but Quistis would have sworn that he was smiling. _Really smiling._

And so was she. "Hello, Seifer. My name is Quistis."

_"Do you remember that dream?" The fire-haired woman had asked him, so many years ago, her deep emerald eyes cast into the distance, her elegant form bathed by the moonlight as she sat on a tree branch, her delicate hands holding the fresh leafs from covering her view of the stars._

_"What dream?" He replied, absent-mindedly polishing his sword with a soft cloth. _

_"You know… _THAT_ dream…" She insisted, taking a moment to look at the blonde knight. _

_"Oh! That certainly sheds light on things!" Dyre countered, sarcasm and annoyance clear in his voice. He laughed briefly at her and then proceeded in paying to her no heed._

_The woman glared at the blonde, slipping from the branch as swiftly as a cat and landing next to the knight in the same furtive manner. Soundlessly, the woman stepped out of the clearing, furious that she had ever attempted on a serious conversation. After all, why put her heart on a string in such dangerous times?_

_Once she vanished beneath the shadows, Dyre sighted, bitterly eating at the silence in which she had left him, her words echoing in his mind._

_"My dream?" He repeated, distractedly combing his golden hair. "Did I ever have a dream? _Maybe_, before this all started – _perhaps_, before you came into my life… A 'romantic' dream, yeah," He chuckled. "I guess that's what they'd have called it..."_

_In the shadows of the forest, rosy lips whispered the same words as his own: "But the dream is dead, isn't it?"_

Now that she was so close to him, her warmth so appealing and her touch so gentle, Seifer was having a hard time to believe he had ever doubted her. 

Colours were slowly filtering through and shapes were also settling into sharper, more familiar lines. Since he could keep his eye on her, he was more relaxed and confident – watching with great interest as the blonde beauty ripped his shirt into bandages and placed them around his torso.

He recalled that sailors back at Ayaa Mar had often spoke to him about nymphs – mesmerising spirits of the sea who pulled men beneath the waves with the aid of their charms and voices. Well, the boy _did particularly mind if she tried to drag him underwater (he had had enough of the salty taste already), but he'd take the risk just to… just to... _

The boy hesitated a moment, a feeling of _déjà vu creeping in as the thought produced itself in his mind: __"…just to hear her voice again…" _

"What?" Quistis demanded, her blonde crown of hair turning sharply to look at him. "What did you just say?"

"Hm?" Seifer mumbled, his cheeks becoming of a very healthy – perhaps too healthy – rosy pink. _"I-- I only thought that, didn't I? Oh, Varda! Please don't let me have said it!!!" _

Nervously, as in _panic, Seifer pointed his index finger quite innocently at himself. "Who? Me? Ano, I was just… I was just saying… ah…"_

"Well?" The girl insisted, her blonde eyebrow arching dangerously.

Franticly, the boy pretended to look beyond her distractedly – so he could avoid her gaze and think of something to say more at ease –, when a gigantic shadow slid, silent and predatory, into his still meek view. Seifer's blue eyes widened fearfully and Quistis – seeing this – instinctively turned her head.

"LOOK OUT!" The shout scratched Seifer's throat just as he reached to push her out of the way, his fingers brushing empty space for the adamatoises' beak had made violent contact with Quistis' side, sending her down heavily on the sand, far from where he could grasp her.

"QUISTIS!" The blonde boy cried, watching as the small girl clutched to her side and groaned in pain, his momentarily distraction giving the turtle beast the opportunity to dig its beak into his leg's flesh.

Seifer winced and, in response to the monster's attack, he swiftly slashed it the eye with the aid of his knife, causing the beast to immediately release its hold on him. 

Quickly rolling over to his left, the boy evaded from a second blow, taking the chance to stand and search for the small girl Quistis, the frustrated adamatoise producing high-pitched squirms behind him.

Fortunately, his vision was returning faster to normal and he could now clearly distinguish the frail form of the blonde girl against the white sand. 

"You 'kay?" He called.

Quistis grunted. 

She was sure she had at least two broken ribs – accounting by the pain she felt at her upper side –  and clung firmly to the belief that they wouldn't be the only injuries she would list if she didn't move. 

"Been better." She retorted to the blonde, jumping to her feet and turning to see him grin at her annoyed response before stepping aside as the giant beast attempted to bite him, digging his knife in its stretched neck afterwards. _"Even with his back and his leg bleeding like that, he's still fast. Wha--?!"_

Quistis leaped high into the air, skillfully avoiding a low-level thunder spell that had been cast at her by a newly arrived adamatoise and almost immediately hearing a loud groan from Seifer. 

_"Oh, gods! He was hit!!" The girl realised, forgetting her opponent to sprint to his side._

At this, the beast wasted no time and took advantage of her fleeing form to cast 'Double' on itself and then tossed a succession of 'Thundara' spells. The first wave of magic hit her fully and Quistis couldn't help but to feel like a pincushion, failing to keep her balance and falling (thus escaping the second spell) just scarce meters from where Seifer laid – unconscious – at the mercy of his own opponent.

The girl's numb fingers were lucky to touch the smooth surface of the empty Potion bottle as she watched, hazily, as the monster in front of her busily dragged the blonde boy by his injured leg.

Enraged, the child grabbed the bottle and – in one fluid motion – she broke it on the turtle's already damaged eye with the full force of her now tense and wary muscles, a sudden strength coursing through her veins as she scooped Seifer over her shoulder with one hand and his knife with the other.

She didn't even give the two creatures time to process the mere thought of a move as she dashed unexpectedly down the beach, a threat worth reconsidering flaming in her eyes.


	7. Part One: Chap. 07 - A Dream With Souls ...

**DISCLAIMER:** Look, if I owned FFVIII, I wouldn't be writing in the F-A-N--F-I-C-T-I-O-N section, now would I?

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**I swear I'm attempting on action in these two chapters!!! I swear!!!!!! Please, tell me I made it… please… ^_^; Oh, yeah!!!! A very special thanks to all the gang for not letting me go under!!!! (and not throwing at my teacher's neck, for that matter… ) I wouldn't have done it this far if hadn't been you gals!!!! ^_^_^_^_^_^_~

**ABOUT THE RATING:** Oh! I still dunno if I should raise the rating… You tell me, okay?

PART ONE: WITHIN THE MISTS CHAPTER SEVEN: A DREAM WITH SOULS AWAKE 

_"Fuck!" The blond knight cursed aloud, landing one last time on the dark obsidian floor to position himself on yet another defence stance. He analysed his opponent, diligently scanning her body for any sign of the results his last blow should have inflicted upon her elegant and sensual frame._

_His conclusion was just as good had been all of his lasts: he had failed to touch the barest inch of her dress' garments._

_"So, Dyre, is this all you can do?" The woman teased, skilfully manoeuvring the twin blades into an attacking position. "Your sister will surely be disappointed when she knows that you made such mediocre performance while trying to protect her. What a lousy knight you turned out to be." She sneered amusingly._

_The blonde man glared at her between drawn breaths, his sword held high in front of him – his muscled body tense and worn out, but unwilling to give up on the fight he had chose to take as his._

_The woman sighted, shrugging her slender shoulders as if disappointed. "Oh, well…" _

_"My turn." A cruel delighted smile traced her flaming red lips as she dashed toward his awaiting figure, her blades dancing alongside her body in an eager thirst for blood. _

His blood.

The boy's heavy body slowly slipped from her shoulder and she now held him close to her chest – almost in a cradling position – as her legs made the impossible to go further.

Just when she thought that she was going to make it, she felt a sudden pinning on her heel – result of something sharp, and rather hard, that held her back and that caused her to lose her balance and crumble over Seifer's body.

Turning rapidly to her side, she saw the adamatoises hovering above her, their blind grey eyes glinting cruelly against their dark green – almost black – complexion, metal-like beaks ready to strike her.

_"Damn 'Haste' spells!" The girl cursed, moving from over the boy to support her weight with her back as she twisted her legs, giving the nearest turtle-head a good succession of kicks, throwing a hand full of sand into its eyes once she was done with it. _

Groaning at the stinging sensation, the beast resolutely withdrew from the pair, giving Quistis the opportunity to round Seifer's waist and try to drag him away from them.

But a 'Firaga' spell didn't let her go much further, though, as it flew through the air and hit Quistis' bare back skin and turning it into living flesh, her arms dropping the blonde onto the sand with a soft thud.

_"This doesn't look good..." She thought struggling to control the pain, closing her eyes forcedly, reaching for the concealed pocket and for the object she had previously kept in it. __"And I guess I have few options left…"_

Glancing one last time at wounded boy, the blonde girl grasped the unfamiliar hilt of his knife and she faced the adamatoises, yelling loudly as she ran – so they'd forget Seifer and went after her.

Avoiding the first blow the nearest turtle-like creature conceived, she mimicked the boy's early move and cut its neck with even more deadly accuracy then he had done, moving quickly so the second beast wouldn't have time to concentrate on her for another magic round.

Sliding underneath the last, Quistis took a moment to dig the blade into its quite vulnerable belly, extracting an horrible grunt from the scarred-eye monster, which automatically sank into the sand, not being, however, able to trap the girl below its weight, for she had relatively long ago evaded from there. 

Searching to hide from the spell the first creature had been aiming at her behind the other's adamant shell, she managed to get it hit – bull's eye – by its companion (even if not doing it much damage, thanks to the adamatoise's constant 'Shell' protection).

Quistis dashed to the front of the beast with a battle cry, – unknowingly enjoying the trill of the fight; the very pulse of the adrenaline tugging at her heart – thinking still of distracting them from Seifer and of how to perform the next move. 

Once sided with the turtle's wrinkled neck – which already held a bleeding bruise (courtesy of Mr. Almasy) – she stabbed the ripped flesh before dodging the adamatoise's defensive blow with ease and shifting to its other side.

Quistis, struck by the glimpsing sight of the other monster advancing slowly toward Seifer's twitching form, insanely launched herself at the gigantic being. Ducking at its swatting movements as she fought to grab its tub-like neck, she tried to prevent it from going further at the cost of her bruised arms and hands, her gown tearing as it brushed occasionally against the rough dark shell, the knife, after some indifferent damage, falling from her grasp and ending up crushed underneath the monsters brutal feet.

Feeling that she could not sustain herself in that ravage for much longer, Quistis gradually lost her grip on the turtle's muscular neck, being picked up and thrown briskly into Seifer's awaiting arms.

"You shouldn't have done that, you know." He censored, his blonde eyebrow arching irritably.  "You got my knife broken and almost killed yourself…" But his hands spoke with the gentleness of his worry and care as he gathered her more comfortably on his lap, murmuring something in her ear, watching the adamatoises diligently.

The titanic pair marched patiently in both blondes' direction, their animalistic brain hoping to have a well-deserved breakfast soon.

And what an intriguing couple they made, sitting unmovingly over the bloodied sand that brought to Quistis so many bitter memories; listening to each other's breaths; feeling each other's heartbeats…  waiting…… 

The girl's body shielded his hand from view, her legs moving gingerly over his – cautious not to touch his wound –, his other hand lying firmly over her shoulder protectively. Her ocean blues eyes locked in his stormy ones…… waiting… and waiting… 

The adamatoises' were now so near that they could also feel their breaths on their bare bruised skin… but they were still… waiting…

"NOW!" Seifer shouted, giving the girl a slight starting push, her body coming to fall on her unhurt side and unravelling the lava coloured power and sheer heat of a hand-sized fireball. "Fire Cross!!!" The boy summoned. "Dark Glow!"

And immediately dark red fireworks shot from the ball he held burning in his palm and imbedded themselves into the turtles' magical protections, making considerable damage to their shells…

…only that wasn't enough… 

Grunting savagely, one of the adamatoises cast another 'Haste' spell on itself and rapidly reached out for Quistis' fallen body. Before Seifer – weakened by the attack he had previously attempted – could even make the gesture of intervention, the monster's beak dug deeply into her already bloodied leg, causing her to release a soft hallow scream between bitten 'till bruise lips.

_Dyre sank to his knees, panting huskily, supporting his arm and partially his weight on the broken sword that he held vertically onto the dark inscribed floor, his back barely an inch from the fire haired woman's, whose company he had secretly enjoyed during their years together as travellers of The Path._

_Distantly, he recalled the times of his youth: of how – sitting on his father's lap – he had heard  of great dids from the lips of beautiful ladies and valorous men, who had come to their palace for a royal audience. He had been a small innocent child then, still listening to his nanny's fairy tales, wishing in his core to become a knight like those of the books: wise, brave, strong and honourable; of those that did not know failure, defeat or humiliation. He had wished to save his ladylove from the claws of a Ruby Dragon and be claimed as the hero of innocent souls – the saviour of countries and men. _

_Still, that hadn't been all._

_For Dyre, somehow, he could care less for honour, victory, wisdom or skill as long as he could have his dream… as long as… as… he could have… it…_

_…but the dream was dead. It held no meaning, no goal… right? _

_Righ…__ Shiri…? Dead. No meaning. No goal. __Right…?_

_Then, why…? Why was he fighting…? Why?_

_The handsome knight coughed blood, his head speeding in a hazard of thoughts that could have made him blank out if his swoon hadn't been supported by his shattered sword._

_He was lost and confused. He had no aim. He had no goal._

_His enemy was laughing idly at his poor figure. At his torn feelings._

_"Why fight at all…?" She echoed his thoughts in an amused tone. "Why bother, ne… Dyre-san? Your selfish little dream is wildly broken… Why fight at all…?" The raven haired woman's smile deepen and grew wider as she sheathed one of her blades and outstretched her arm perpendicularly to her sinuous body, holding her palm open and facing him (a stance purposely similar to the one he used in one of his Limit Breaks) and he was starting to understand the irony of it all.   _

_"You know what they say back in your home land, Dyre…" She hinted, successive waves of dark magic assembling unceremoniously before her hand's bare skin, producing strange arches of fire in the air between them. And then she spit out the words: "No Mercy."_

The sight of her angelic features, cringing forcefully in a silent struggle to fight off the pain, was breaking him inside... and Seifer barely noticed as a lonely tear rolled down his pale cheek, screaming loudly, lunging ferociously at the attacking adamatoise and punching it in its eye.

_He may be lost, he may be confused; he could have no aim, no goal; but he did have…_

"Shiri." _The image he summoned invaded his mind, a rarest smile held secretly in her rosy lips and so much openly – so much honest and giving – in the liquid emerald pools of her eyes. He could now feel as he remembered her sweet and delicate jasmine scent, the butterfly touch of her burning fire coloured hair on his skin… _

_…the memory of that one single moment in his life, when, beneath the watchful gaze of the stars and moon, all had fallen rightfully into place; when, from her lips, he had drawn a content 'Alleluia', claiming her as his forever…_

_And even though that had been ages ago – before they crossed the devastated Centra plains; they returned the corpse of his father to the King's Tomb; they faced the hardships of the Illumina Trial; they led an army of beasts to harvest on the souls of innocent people; they murdered L'uin Gora; they visited Chia, the Oracle, to hear from her the divine words; before he had fully accepted to walk The Path alongside her – that sole moment… that brief, tender moment they had shared…_

_…paid off all that had come forth and all that would still come…_

_She was the unique being that had ever been able to touch his most intimate dream… She had been the one to bring it as physical into reality as he never thought possible… even if only for a short a while… a little while…_

_And he was to protect her. Always. Forever. He was her knight._

_Ever since the very first day they met at Anaeco's market, he had been destined to be her guardian, her protector – her knight__. And as though the idea had pretty much disgusted him at the time, he had learned that he could not have received greater honour._

_Even if shattered. Even if broken. He was her knight.___

_That was what had been written and that was had been meant to be… and was._

With reckless speed, the blonde boy took her into his arms and cuddled her protectively against his chest, allowing both their weights to pull them to the sand, his body completing shielding hers.

"Seifer…" She breathed, blushing slightly at feeling of his strong arms surrounding her. "What are you doing?"

The blonde boy smiled meekly at her from above, his soft blue eyes the only thing she could see clearly in the tight closeness they shared, his form clouding her from light. And then she felt the impact of one of the adamatoises' blow, his body coming to crush gently against hers, his lips coming out of the thin line he had forced upon them to say to her quite simply: "I'm protecting you. That's what knights do."

A moment passed between them until Quistis decided on reacting to his words, her mind bent on swearing he was playing a game on her, if it hadn't been for the determination she saw in his eyes. He was serious. Deathly so.

"Seifer, get off me!" She ordered him in a desperate tone, feeling his body collapse against hers once more as a new wave of brutal force hit him. "Please! Stop it!!!" She cried, struggling to free herself from his hold. "STOP!!! You'll die!!!"

The blonde boy smiled at her again, his husky breath caressing her skin, stormy blue orbs locked in hers, and his mind fighting off the exhaustion that was slowly settling in. "I'd rather die to let them hurt you." 

Quistis gasped in fear and shock. "How can you say that? You're not gonna die! I'm not gonna let you die!" She argued, almost incoherently.

The blonde boy's gaze answered her in the same steel willed stubbornness as before, his tone holding a sweetness and distance Quistis wished never to hear again, as it had been the same her mother had used before leaving her. "Run." He told her, his embrace becoming weaker underneath the attacks of the turtles' beaks. "You have a small brother to go back to."

Whatever the girl had wished to say caught itself in her throat as the boy thought lastly, _"This may be the last time I see someone. I'm glad it was you.", before passing out._

_The dark force onslaught burst free from her and hissed against his barely breathing chest, throwing him backwards against those few inches he had been so preciously guarding distance, tossing him and the fire haired priestess onto very edge of the seal that lay on the floor – in the appearance of an ordinary circular pool of a black silkily liquid. _

_The priestess' enchantment hovered above them – suspended, unfinished – and her slender body lay mingled in his, her head hanging dangerously from the edge and her hair disappearing in the seal's unmoving surface. She was just about to slip into that scary abysm of darkness herself, if fatigued strong arms hadn't dragged her to safety. _

_The red-haired woman shook her head at the sudden movement, her once long hair cut irregularly short by the seal's mysterious surface, her lips mumbling some odd incoherence before fully awaking from her from her profaned trance. "Dyre…?" She addressed. "Dyre, where are you…?" _

_She scrutinised the darkness than enveloped her vision with a word, feeling and seeing his hand reaching out to touch her smooth fire coloured hair with pity and her porcelain face with relief – in what she knew was also an apologising gesture._

_"Here, tigress." He answered bitterly, stroking her flustered cheeks. "I'm here."_

_Dyre loosened his grip on what was left of his weapon, letting it fall onto the floor with a metallic lonesome thud, so he could pull her closer to him. "I'm sorry, Shiri. I brought you back before you could finish it…"_

_She smiled faintly. Dyre saying he was sorry? It couldn't get any worse than this, now could it?  _

_"It's okay, I can always pick its loosen strin-- Dyre! What have you done to yourself!!!" She demanded, travelling quickly through the length of his muscular body, which was ripped and torn in every way conceivable. "I thought I told to wake me up if you needed help handling Daena!!!"_

_His grey eyes narrowed dangerously at her. "I'd rather die to ask you help to handle that whore of Elkor's!" He hissed._

_"But--!"_

_The blonde knight silenced her with a kiss – a longed for, lovingly gentle kiss._

_Slowly, as they parted, he looked at her with serious grey eyes – an intense blue fire burning in them as he spoke softly, fighting to keep himself in check. "Red, I'm still your knight and I'm gonna fight for you – no matter how poorly –, understood?"_

_She nodded obediently under his gaze, whispering something in his ear before she rising._

**"If you die, whom will be the place I return to?"**

Quistis choked a sob, trying desperately to prevent the scarred eye adamatoise to pick up its prize – a bloodied five years old blonde boy – with frantic, but futile, brisk moves of arms. At a lost, the girl saw them turn their back at her, walking slowly with Seifer held between their enormous cruel jaws. 

For Quistis it had never been like she couldn't use her magic for a purpose: for as long as she could remember, the presence of auras had always been easily detected by her rebel spirit and freeing the excessive energy she store within her immature body was also a task she had learned to perform.

But that was that for Quistis Trepe. 

Any other spell or incantation, she was unable to control as it was demanded by Edea or even herself – if it worked or culminated into disaster… that was something that she had absolutely no hand upon.

When the boy had called upon his Limit Break, her first concern had been if, indeed, he had that low a status. It would be foolish of her to think that every being carried strength and resistance equal to hers, but, fortunately, at her remark, he had just laughed, saying idly that his Limit Break was somewhat unusual. But still, as she saw his magic passing through the protections of their opponents, she had felt envious of the blonde boy. Why couldn't she do that? Why couldn't she protect him also?

Envy had nothing to do with it now. She was mad. Insanely so. 

He had dared to sacrifice himself like that and expected her to run? Flee from danger, just like that…? No. Not again, _not ever again!!!_

_Sorceress Shiri, walker of The Path and priestess of Brame glared lethal daggers at her opponent, Daena, taking two deliberately slow steps in her direction, raising her arms to her chest's level._

_The raven haired woman held an amused expression as she watched Shiri open her arms in a invocation gesture, cruelly sheathing her remaining blade and reaching out to pick another intriguing weapon from the floor, also whispering an incantation of her own. _

Comforted and angry at the thought that he was much worse than her, Quistis rose quietly from her sitting position, ignoring the exasperated cries of pain that her every fibre sent to her every nerve – as if forgotten completely at how badly she had been wounded.

Ravaging white tiger-eyes glinted like keen blades against the morning sky, piercing and ferocious as she watched the retreating forms. _"It's not going to happen again!" The girl resolved, determinably. __"I promised you, mommy! I won't fail someone ever again!!!"_

A ring of amber formed in the sapphire blue depths of her orbs, the waves crashing down with sudden fury against the shore of the once calm beach, sweeping the blood that resulted from their fight. 

The sky darkened and purple thick clouds – coming out of nowhere – cloaked the luminous solar disk, filtering all the light, the water crossing in vigorous leaps the distance that existed between Quistis and the ocean._ "I have the power! I will do it!"_

The air twirled madly in reaction to the intensity of her power, ripping her gown into ribbons that flew wildly on the wind in strangely familiar wave-like motions, picking at her hair and curling it in the same fashion. 

The gigantic creatures stooped in their tracks, stretching their long necks to turn and look at her in all her terrific splendour, the violence of the waves advancing on their solid forms. 

"_Let him go!" The girl demanded, her voice rising above the tempest she had summoned as the clamour of thunder on a particularly devastating storm, the tenderness it usually held replaced by bitter recklessness and an exquisite desire to dominate. _

The waves lingered at her shins, begging to her, coaxing her, enveloping her – urging her into a part of them – and Quistis was as much as invited by the liquid, as it was indubitable drawn to her. 

The blonde girl watched without passion as the salty masses of water crashed against her foes with a brutality that made them slid along the beach, but that, upon reaching her, made nothing more than erase her wounds, sweeping over and through her.

Quistis snapped her head at the adamatoises' backs, feeling quite comfortable with the amount of pure energy she was wielding as she claimed to the hungry unwise beasts. "He's mine!" 

The scarred eye creature, narrowed its eyes with apparent difficulty, tightened its grip on Seifer out of instinctive fear, digging its accurate beak into his flesh and drawing out blood. Quistis could bear it no longer, and flashed them her final imperious menace. "LET HIM GO!"

Womanly shaped beings, made of sheer liquid and metaphysic substance, crowded around her as the sea's rebellious spirit became one with the girl's, a blue spiral-like symbol fading into view just between her blonde eyebrows.

A golden halo dwelt for freedom inside her eyes, her feet leaving the ground to float some centimetres above the sand, the ocean's water twirling around her in intermittent ribbons.

_::Do you know what you are asking, child?:: _

_"Yes!!!"_

"Blue Magic:" Quistis invoked, "_LASER EYES!" the light she held in her stare bursting from her eyes and hissing across the scenario she had conjured, bifurcating as it approached the adamatoises, hitting both of them with striking force._

The ray enveloped the beasts and, in one astonishing half of a second, shattered their every protection mercilessly, tearing their scaled skin as they sank beneath the waves, releasing Seifer from their hold and letting him slump onto the dry hot sand of the silent beach.  

_Shiri helped Dyre to rise from his sitting position, his arms rounding her waist tenderly as hers embraced his neck and pulled him closer to her, possessively. Fiery gazes locked in one another, both couldn't help themselves but to ask, to the very core of their beings, what the hell were their lives all about…? _

_ The blonde knight sorrowfully gazed at her, drinking in her every detail for one last time while he bringing his fingers to caress her blushed cheeks. "So this is the end is it? There is no return home after all…?"_

_"Why do you say that?" She inquired searching deeper in his intense grey eyes. "I'm home, now, Dyre. And I'm not going anywhere. Not without you." Shiri coaxed him, resting her head softly on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his characteristic scent once again filling her nostrils. "And no. Daena was wrong. This is just the beginning. But, I was wrong about something, too."_

_"Oh, yeah? What?"_

_"You. Your dream." The handsome blonde watched her, intrigued, the shadows of past incidents clouding his already stormy gaze. "Dreams don't die, Dyre. They're like souls. They are reborn forever."_

_Worlds apart, lives apart, spirits apart, all actions apart, all words apart – why hadn't she ever said it to him? Why hadn't he ever been allowed to forget and why hadn't she also? But only feelings mattered now – in this brief moment – and their hearts had to be worn openly before anything else. Her pride had to be washed away with her sins. _

_Dyre smiled – despite of himself –, cocking his head to the side to capture her lips in a gentle, but short, kiss. Whispering into her ear, he drew her to him. "May your Song find it's place forever in My Soul." He saluted her with his trademark sexy grin._

_Shiri laughed whole-heartily at his remark, probably the last thing she would ever laugh about, and decided to make, also, a little charade with the true meaning of his name._

_"May you be forever my Dearest Heart."_

_And – together – they leaped into the dark awaiting surface of the Moon Seal, allowing it to devour them as Daena's frustrated scream echoed distantly in the back of their minds, which slipped with the greatest ease into eternity._

On top of a nearby cliff, unseen to the children's eyes, stood an elegant blonde woman, who watched the girl with undisguised interest. She wore a long black cotton skirt and a silk shirt of the same colour, her long golden hair pulled up into an exquisite bun, her eyes flaming with honeyed amber.

The woman turned away from the sight, whispering into the wind, as she knew the young girl would unconsciously listen. "Very good, my small sheila. You've just made the game more amusing." 

She reached out to tug the gentle wisps of blonde hair behind her ear, crossing her arms over her chest before shrugging in a silent chuckle. Then, straightening herself, she wondered aloud: "Hmm… I'll come to see you in five years." She shook her head, slightly. "You still have so much to learn..." 

And smiled.

Quistis tumbled, exhausted and dizzy, at Seifer's side, a content smile spreading through the length of her lips as she acknowledged, with a relieved sight, that they were both safe – unscratched and clean of any blood – just after Matron's purple lined barrier. Tenderly, her hand came to entwine its fingers with Seifer's – to assure him rather than her – her mind wondering, before drifting off to a blissful and well-earned rest: _"Was it all a dream?"_

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**Demo… how was it? Please, _please_, **please** tell me what you thought about it! I really want to know what to improve in future chapters!!! Specially the action! How was the action? Was it bad? Good? Medium? Please let me know!


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